Cardinal Sako was born, 4 July 1948, in Zakho, Iraq. After completing his primary studies in Mosul, he attended the local Saint Jean's Seminary under the direction of the Dominican Fathers. He was ordained a priest on 1 June 1974, serving in parish ministry at the Cathedral of Mosul until 1979. He was sent to Rome and obtained a doctorate in Eastern Patrology in 1983. He later obtained a doctorate in history from the Sorbonne in Paris and a license in Islamic jurisprudence from the Pontifical Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies, Rome. From 1997 to 2002, he served as rector of the Patriarchal Seminary in Baghdad. He then served in the parish of Perpetual Help, Mosul, until his election as Archbishop of KerkŁk by the Chaldean Church, 24 October 2002, to which Pope John Paul II granted assent on 27 September 2003. He was ordained a bishop on 14 November 2003. On 31 January 2013, after the resignation of the Patriarch His Beatitude Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, Archbishop Sako was elected Patriarch, receiving the Ecclesiastica Communio from the Pontiff on 1 February. He is President of the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Iraq and a member of: the 14th Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops; of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches; and of the Pontifical Council for Interrelgious Dialogue.